Signals, such as audio and video, are an essential component of the creative process in many industries, such as film, video game development, and performing arts. Professionals and hobbyists in these disciplines are always looking for new tools and methods to manipulate signals. Today, many different signal processing circuits and manipulation techniques are in use for the purpose of creative expression.
For example, audio processing circuits are common in studio and live performance applications. Many are marketed as effects pedals, or simply guitar pedals, even though they are also widely used by keyboard players, singers, and other instrumentalists. Guitar pedals, such as the fuzz pedal or the wah pedal, demonstrate the pleasing results of deliberate distortion or alteration of an audio signal. Such pedals are good tools to demonstrate how modification or degradation of a signal can cause creative and desirable results.
A requirement of effects pedals and many other signal processing circuits is the need for electrical power. Several solutions for this requirement are in place today, such as batteries, and A/C power adapters.